North Korea sanctions remain until complete denuclearisation, says US

Image copyrightEPAImage caption Mr Pompeo said the alliance between the US, Japan and South Korea was “ironclad”

North Korea will not see any economic sanctions lifted until it has demonstrated “complete denuclearisation”, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.

Mr Pompeo was speaking at a press conference in Seoul with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts.

It comes days after President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un held a historic summit in Singapore.

The leaders signed a statement pledging to establish a new relationship.

Mr Kim also reaffirmed previous promises – like those made in a deal with South Korea earlier this year – to work towards the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”.

But there has been deep scepticism about the agreement, with observers saying it lacked detail on how North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons and how that process would be verified.

An ‘ironclad alliance’

Mr Trump had said after his meeting that sanctions – which place stringent restrictions on how North Korea can interact with the outside world – would remain in effect until “the nukes are no longer a factor”, but it was unclear exactly what that meant.

“At a certain point I look forward to taking them off and they will come off when we know we are down the road,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.

Mr Pompeo travelled from Singapore to South Korea to brief the US’s regional allies on the summit, and on Mr Trump’s surprise announcement that he was ending routine US-South Korea military drills.

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Media captionTrump Kim summit: What happens now?

Mr Pompeo said the summit had marked a “turning point” in the relationship between the US and North Korea.

He dismissed a report by North Korean state media that said Mr Trump and Mr Kim had agreed to a “step-by-step” process for dismantling North Korea’s controversial nuclear programme. This has been taken to indicate that the US would grant concessions to Pyongyang along the way.

The secretary of state said the US remained “committed to achieving the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of North Korea”.

These exact terms were not specified in the joint statement signed by Mr Trump and Mr Kim in Singapore, which only made reference to “complete denuclearisation”.

Image copyrightEPAImage caption Mike Pompeo is currently in Seoul to brief his South Korean and Japanese counterparts

Just landed – a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea has great potential for the future!

North Korea sanctions remain until complete denuclearisation, says US

Image copyrightEPAImage caption Mr Pompeo said the alliance between the US, Japan and South Korea was “ironclad”

North Korea will not see any economic sanctions lifted until it has demonstrated “complete denuclearisation”, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.

Mr Pompeo was speaking at a press conference in Seoul with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts.

It comes days after President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un held a historic summit in Singapore.

The leaders signed a statement pledging to establish a new relationship.

Mr Kim also reaffirmed previous promises – like those made in a deal with South Korea earlier this year – to work towards the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”.

But there has been deep scepticism about the agreement, with observers saying it lacked detail on how North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons and how that process would be verified.

An ‘ironclad alliance’

Mr Trump had said after his meeting that sanctions – which place stringent restrictions on how North Korea can interact with the outside world – would remain in effect until “the nukes are no longer a factor”, but it was unclear exactly what that meant.

“At a certain point I look forward to taking them off and they will come off when we know we are down the road,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.

Mr Pompeo travelled from Singapore to South Korea to brief the US’s regional allies on the summit, and on Mr Trump’s surprise announcement that he was ending routine US-South Korea military drills.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionTrump Kim summit: What happens now?

Mr Pompeo said the summit had marked a “turning point” in the relationship between the US and North Korea.

He dismissed a report by North Korean state media that said Mr Trump and Mr Kim had agreed to a “step-by-step” process for dismantling North Korea’s controversial nuclear programme. This has been taken to indicate that the US would grant concessions to Pyongyang along the way.

The secretary of state said the US remained “committed to achieving the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of North Korea”.

These exact terms were not specified in the joint statement signed by Mr Trump and Mr Kim in Singapore, which only made reference to “complete denuclearisation”.

Image copyrightEPAImage caption Mike Pompeo is currently in Seoul to brief his South Korean and Japanese counterparts

Just landed – a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea has great potential for the future!

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